If you’re in the mood to have your rough edges smoothed out a bit, you’ll want to try Abu Dhabi City Golf Club’s sophisticated Sunday night sunset barbeque.

Arriving just after 5pm, we’ve missed the first horse race, but the second of eight rounds come pounding past at 5.30pm while the chefs put the finishing touches on the meal which starts at 6pm. We’re starving just watching the kids jump on the bouncy castle and run around, so we start with a sampling of salads including fresh greens, gorgeous tomato and cucumber and a fresh light potato salad.

Having seen what’s coming up, we try to pace ourselves but we can’t help sampling the creamy hummus and tangy moutabal. We’re not sorry we indulged, especially when our little ones come trotting up looking for a bit of flat bread.

Moving on from the salads, we especially love the flavourful sweet and sour prawns and the decadent penne carbonara. We don’t find any specific kid food on offer, but our little ones find plenty they like including the chicken biryani, the steamed vegetables, the grilled fish and the range of fresh fruit.

We can’t go to a barbeque without sampling one of everything as it comes off the grill. It’s easy to overcook meat when you’re working with an open flame, but the City Golf chefs keep on serving up flavourful chunks of chicken tikka, lamb chops and beef steak.

At the end of the meal, we mean to show restraint but in the face of extra creamy chocolate mousse, fruit tartlets in mini pastry cups and fresh apple pie, well what can we do? To find out more, call 02 445 9600 or visit www.adcitygolf.ae.

Laura Fulton